The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Mood Enhancer
Posted by Jeremy F (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) on 02/21/2006
★★★★★
My friend Calvin told me about cold showers a few weeks ago. I thought "out of his mind!!!" Though as the weeks progressed he kept exclaiming how great they are, so today I tried a cold shower. Cold showers are totally awesome. The best part is when the body adjusts to the temperature of the cold water and once that happens, it's a totally enjoyable experience. Once you finish the cold shower, no matter how cold the bathroom is, you will forever appreciate the temperature of the room. It's the warm tingly feeling of your body adjusting to the room's temperature, which also feels good too! After having a hot shower, the bathroom always feels so cold, now it's the opposite and it totally rocks!
Multiple Ailments Treated
Posted by Daniel (Blackwood, Nj) on 12/28/2009
★★★★★
So I started taking cold showers about a week ago and I've already noticed a few effects.
First, I have much more energy which is helpful in my day to day life.
On top of that, I've had problems with a sore stomach that I've been trying to heal with limited success for awhile now and within a week it feels so much better now I can hardly believe how well and how fast its working.
I also have noticed that my digestive complaints have much improved, I've had intestinal inflammation which has been helped with exercise to a degree but after taking cold showers its seemed to disappear and my evacuations are quick easy and complete.
I've also developed minor food intolerance's over the past few years and almost immediately they decreased considerably I hope with time they will go away completely. I've also had great luck with an almost complete reduction in muscle soreness after my workouts by taking a cold shower right after I'm done.
Overall after the first week I have to say I'm hooked and I can't wait to see what other benefits I gain from this. As for why it works I cant say completely but I'm going to assume at least for my stomach and intestinal issues it was from the increased amount of blood that made its way into my organs which facilitated healing. As for the other things who knows but I know its doing something!
Multiple Ailments Treated
Posted by Mike Creauxwave (Cincinnati, ID) on 09/08/2007
★★★★★
I took a cold shower before breakfast (on an empty stomach) and it instantly cured my loose stools.
Moreover, it cured my loosened headaches and nausea forever. Drowsiness, acne, orange, stiff joints, loose and stiff stools, sore throats, fevers, stress, tired blood, haunted. I have also been losing weight at an alarming rate. Gout.
Multiple Ailments Treated
Posted by Aron (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) on 09/02/2007
★★★★★
I started taking cold showers about five weeks ago. I started with Scottish showers (hot/cold) and then after a couple of days I tried the cold ones. I just love them: it gives me enough energy to last throughout the day and my overall mood has improved. Now my daily routine includes a Scottish shower in the morning and a cold one before I go to sleep. Usually it takes no more than 10 minutes to shower. I start from the feet, arms, armpits and then the chest. In the beginning I expected to catch a cold, which didn't happen (good thing), although I sneeze a lot more (bad thing). I've discovered that I have less BO and I am cleaner after showering, although I don't use soap or duche gel.
Also, for the ones who want to try it: take it easy; go from hot to lukewarm, and then gradually go to cold. Try it for 3 weeks and then decide if you don't like them. Try it.
Replied by Aron
(Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
10/21/2007
Multiple Ailments Treated
Posted by Quin (Toronto, Canada)
★★★★★
First of all, thanks to all folk's feedback. After I read all articles, I have started taking cold shower for almost six months. My health is getting much better each day. It really works. My allergies & headaches are gone. The temp that I take in the winter is 8 C & 12 C in the summer. Normally, I shower cold water to front & back for two minutes, before I get out of the bath room. I hope my experience can help.
Best wishes to all of you.
Multiple Ailments Treated
Posted by Danny (Mooresville, Indiana)
★★★★★
I have been taking cold showers for several years. I started taking them when I would shave in the shower with very hot water and then I would get too hot that I would turn the water completely cold and leave it on for the remainder of my shower. I find that it takes my headaches away and gives me more energy. When I go to hot climates like Florida I find it disappointing to take a shower because they don't have very cold water. I never knew there were any benefits to it until now, but if you try it you will find that you get used to it very quickly. Try it -- you won't be sorry!
Pain Relief
Posted by Burness Speakman (Fredericktown , MO) on 09/25/2007
★★★★★
I read about the cold showers here 3 days ago. I have experienced whole body pain for as long as I can remember. Recently it has become unbearable to try and sleep without double doses of over the counter pain killers. The legs throbbed, prickley needles in the soles of the feet, leg muscle pain, skin pain, hip pain, numbness in the shin area. It was building up for years. I was ready to check myself in somewhere but I do not go to doctors. Anyway to continue. After reading the messages, I went and took a cold shower. This was the afternoon. Just before retiring I took another. This one really affected my body. Gasping and panting but not painful I stayed in the shower. For the first time since I could remember I had a peaceful night sleep. No pain in the legs at all, no numbness, no prickleys. I took three the next day with the same good results at night but with one more added strangeness. My Bowel Movement turned green. Not a dark green a kackie green and I was not constipated as usual. I gathered my bile was flowing. I had come to think I had a gallblader problem years ago but never associated the whole body aches with it. There might be some siatic nerve situation involved also, but I don't know. All I do now is that this seems just short of a miracle for me. I certainly hope it continues, because I don't know if I ever want to take another hot bath again as long as I live. Oh, the energy and high spirits are there too as others reported. Bless you all.
Panic Attack
Posted by Lisa (Victoria, Texas) on 01/17/2008
★★★★★
I woke up early this morning and went right into one of the worst panic attacks of my life. Nausea, dizziness, heart rate going at about twice what it normally does... I found this site after looking for quick ways to lower my hart rate because I was having trouble breathing. I decided to give the cold shower treatment a try and, while I regretted it for the first five minutes or so, I am now feeling totally back to normal. I'll be sure to use this method in the future as it works so much faster than any medication I have tried.
Rash
Posted by Kathryn (Melbourne, Australia) on 12/14/2007
★★★★★
I had a terrible rash under my armpits a couple of years back now. I tried EVERYTHING! I remember it would flare up and the itch would increase 10-fold when I had hot showers. It got that bad that the skin had broken. In conjunction with a honey based cream and using bicarb. as a deodorant, the cold showers bought IMMEDIATE relief. With the water directed into the armpits, the itch would go straight away. Most certainly, the hot/warm water did 'something' to stimulate the bacteria (or whatever!) that was present. Thanks for such a wonderful site; I've been a long time reader and always visit whenever ailments inflict me or my family. ACV and H202 being my favourite remedies!!
Reduces Blood Glucose
Posted by Sushan (London, UK) on 02/01/2009
★★★★★
Cold shower therapy to reduce blood sugar:
cold shower therapy to reduce blood glucose, and get lots of other health benefits. as someone with type 2 diabetes i have been experimenting off and on over 2 years or so with cold showers. they definitely work to reduce blood sugar, by encouraging the cells to utilise the glucose.
some tips:
1. for sustained benefit, its necessary to habituate to cold water( colder temperature is better, ideally around 10 degree centigrade , so it helps to live in a cold climate). It will probably take about a month to habituate. You know this has occurred when you dont really feel the cold after a minute or so of the cold shower, but instead feel quite deatached from consideration of the temperature- you dont really mind it; in fact you rather enjoy the sensation.
2. duration: best results occur when the duration of the shower is upwards of 3 minutes ( it takes 3 minutes for blood to make a complete circuit of the system )to 15 minutes. I personally aim for 2 cold showers a day, 11 minutes each time. morning and evening. self- massage your body during the shower to stimulate circulation, and warm the body. Peripheral circulation (PC) is an issue with diabetes - i have found my practice has significantly improved my own PC- but the self massage is essential especially where the body feels cold.
3. wrap up well after the shower, incl thick socks and if you take longer showers (over 6 minutes) ensure the body temperature has returned to homeostasis before venturing out.
4. caution - if you have diabetes with uncontrolled HBP or atherosclerosis, dont try this approach . At the start it can spike BP up, although its final effect on BP is benign and beneficial.
Severe Food Allergies
Posted by George (Cherry Hill, Nj) on 01/22/2010
★★★★★
Alright so I really need to tell people this because I can scarcely believe it myself. Over the past few years I've had a few stomach ulcers and I've suffered from leaky gut syndrome, because of this I've developed allergies to all manor of things including cellulose in most supplements in pills and magnesium stearate and by allergies I mean if it came in contact with my skin it would start to become raw and inflamed even if I just put it under my tongue so this severely limited me from even trying most supplements to help my ulcer and leaky gut issue.Also and again this is hard to believe but I have no reason to lie to you I started developing allergies to bottled water and water from fountain soda machines, I could only drink water filtered or non filtered from a home filtering device. If I did consume these things my throat immediately swelled and my stomach ulcers burned. Over the past year or so I've learned to live with these things but I cant say its been easy. Although now my leaky gut has been remedied through a strict diet I adhered to and my ulcers are better my allergies to these things remained.
I started taking cold showers about a month ago now and at first I just stayed with cold, I enjoyed this but sometimes it would cause my stomach to become inflammed, I'm not sure why but it wasn't pleasant. Now I alternate hot and cold a few times then end on cold for 100 seconds. Now to why I'm writing this, my allergies and stomach issues are almost completely remedied!!! I just did a test with a supplement made out of fruit and it had magnesium stearate in it and no burning under the tongue no redness or irritation and after five minutes I swallowed and guess what almost no reaction at all.
The same goes with liquids from fountain machines!I drank from one yesterday for the first time in I cant even remember with no reaction. I plan on continuing this and the way things are going I think I will be free of allergies within the next month or so! This site is truly one of the best things that has ever happened to me I'm slowly gaining my old life back and for that I am truly truly thankful. To think all it took was some cold water.
Skin Care
Posted by Morus (Sunnyville, OH) on 06/21/2009
Maybe you should give cold showers a try. If you google "cold shower therapy" it should tell you alot of the benefits-including better skin, etc. I know one time, my family lost power for about a week, so we had no hot water. I had to take freezing cold showers all week, and i was really surprised at how good my skin looked. At first i thought maybe i was just drinking alot of water, but now i realize that it was the cold showers. it's definetly worth a try!
Skin Care
Posted by Kenny (Strathclyde, Scotland) on 02/19/2008
★★★★★
For some time now (since before I started ACV), I've suffered red SPOTS/PIMPLES on the face/cheeks and on my head, and since I have little hair, it's particularly unsightly, I also had kind of FLAKEY SKIN on these areas, both would normally be quite itchy.
I have recently taken to the topical application of ACV on these areas, speculatively. I have to say, in just a couple of days, the results are dramatic... I tilt the bottle onto a cotton pad a couple of times to saturate it, about the same size as a cosmetic make-up remover and wipe all over my face and head liberally, avoiding the eyes (cos it stings). I leave it on and repeat several times a day (just remember to wash the face with clean lukewarm water before you go out and pat it dry). The resulting effect is no redness, no flakey skin, just a taught, fresh-faced complexion.
To compliment that, I have been taking daily sauna and steam bath treatments, interspersed with cold showers,excellent for a variety of conditions I'm sure, marvellous for the circulation, very invigorating and great for the skin, which I read here somewhere - is like the body's third kidney, and when in tip-top working condition, serves the body well to flush-out and detox the system. Try it!
Skin Care
Posted by Scott (Pocatello, Idaho) on 10/10/2007
★★★★★
To add to the cold water effect, I did some reading about the quality of tap water in America and come to find out it is contaminated with pollution well above the EPA standards in most cities (quite disturbing in some cases). Adding chlorine and the presents of all the other contaminants found in the tap water are more readily inhaled and absorbed through your skin during hot showers (also consider the ingredients in hygiene products including soaps, shampoos etc., they contain sodium laurel sulfate which contains dioxin the most potent carcinogen known to man, this is also absorbed into the body). At colder temperatures the effect of these contaminants are greatly reduced whereas your skin pores will close preventing your skin from absorbing the toxins. Also hot showers stimulate the production of sebum to compensate for the loss during a hot shower, thus becoming prone to over production, which may lead to skin blemishes.
Stomach Pain
Posted by Earthy (Dearborn, Mi) on 03/12/2011
★★★★★
Ok this is amazing this totally works I had horible stomach pain and then I took a cold shower and then felt tottaly better and even more amazing in the muslims book ( quaran ) it says to the prophet jacob to wash himself with cold water.
